I read an interesting article in today's Sunday magazine. It was called 'Who'd Want To Inherit This?' and it was all about a guy in the US whose mother died, leaving her house and six storage units full to the brim with items she'd hoarded throughout her long life.
The gist of the article is not only the amount of 'stuff' that 'Mrs M had left behind but also the way in which this mammoth task is driving the son and his partner apart. He, Greg, wants to clear the property himself in order to understand why his mother turned out the way she did and to see if he can halt his own hoarding tendencies. He doesn't want to pay a contractor to do it and has so far filled four industrial skips, five smaller skips for recycling and donated four tons of clothes to charity. He also found 20lbs of costume jewellery in the shed.
All I can say ladies is, I doubt there is a vintage-lover amongst us here who WOULDN'T want to inherit 30+ years-worth of clothes, costume jewellery, books, accessories, toys, homewares etc! I personally would snap old Greg's hand off for just half an hour in his late mom's home! I often dream of finding out some distant relative has left me their old stuff...not too bothered about money (actually that's a lie, I am also bothered about money) but to inherit a house full of old stuff...cool old stuff as opposed to tacky modern crap - wouldn't that be something? Sadly even the very remotest relatives in my family, like me, don't have two pennies to scratch their arse with (another Northern saying...funny how they're nearly always to do with bums and bodily functions) so the chances of that happening are non-existent.
Greg's significant other, Sidney has written a blog about his mammoth challenge - she is very unhappy that her partner is spending all this time away from their home, tidying up and finding himself. I can understand that, I guess - I would probably be the same once I'd picked any treasures out and although I'm laughing about it, it must be very hard when one person in a relationship sets off on a 'quest', whatever it might be, that affects the other person's life as totally as Greg's quest is affecting Sidney. There is a video, made by Greg, that shows his mom's house as it is now. As he explains, it's a lot better than it was at first.
I wonder how much longer he'll carry on and whether he might, one day, just snap and sling the remainder in a skip? If only I could be there with my Marigolds when he did!

